Keyboard comeback: BlackBerry Mercury launch set for next month

BlackBerry's next Android phone nears its official debut

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Following the release of the DTEK50 and DTEK60, BlackBerry's next step in its Android-making venture - colloquially named BlackBerry Mercury - is on the horizon.

The news broke via a newly activated Twitter account for the security-minded phone maker. Its only tweet thus far teases something "distinctly different" coming on February 25, two days before MWC 2017 opens its doors but during the period when many companies announce their wares for the show.

The shadowy figure in the tease looks an awful lot like the Nougat-powered BlackBerry Mercury, which we got our hands on during this month's CES 2017 and is expected to release during Q1.

The Mercury also brings back the BlackBerry Classic's physical keyboard - something fans of the company's trademark clickety-clack have missed since the under-performing BlackBerry Priv.

In addition to learning the handset's official name, price, and release date, we hope to see the BlackBerry Mercury in action during MWC 2017 and get some hands-on time with that tactile keyboard for ourselves.

That said, if there's one thing that will likely disappoint us, it's the name. The last two handsets released in BlackBerry's Android line somehow went from the cool codenames Neon and Argon to the painfully unmarketable DTEK50 and DTEK60.